Newt Gingrich is basically an unspeakable horror of a person who should just go home and think about what he's done.
The presidential hopeful remarked today, in a statement which has sparked outrage among Palestinian leaders, that the Palestinian people were "invented," citing their former inclusion in the Ottoman Empire as proof that the region has never been a country and didn't really need to be:
"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state – (it was) part of the Ottoman Empire. I think we have an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and historically part of the Arab community and they had the chance to go many places," Gingrich said, according to a video excerpt posted online.
The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, demanded Gingrich "review history."
"From the beginning, our people have been determined to stay on their land," Fayyad said in comments carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. "This, certainly, is denying historical truths."
You go, Salam! Because Newt Gingrich does need to review history. While the boundaries of the region known has Palestine have shifted over the centuries, the region was defined as "Palestine" in 1920 by the British Mandate for Palestine and has since declared independence officially from Israel in 1988. Two-thirds of the world's nations recognize the Palestinian people's right to govern themselves. You know how I bothered to learn this? By looking on the fucking Wikipedia page. It's that easy.
Maybe Newt should recall a certain other invented people: Americans. Before 1776, we didn't exist either. We became independent because we chose the path of self-determination. So have the Palestinians.
It's been a long weekend. After our Veteran's Day festivities at Occupy Seattle, a bunch of us went down to stand in solidarity with Occupy Portland on the night of their big eviction (smirk) as ordered by Mayor Sam Adams. Full accounts of the night's events are found elsewhere, but before I get out of my Army dress blues and collapse into bed, I thought some acknowledgments were in order for the many characters on-scene in Portland.
Yeah, I'm in this picture. Far left, in military uniform standing in front of the police.
To the Occupy Seattlites I rode with: thanks for the conversation. Big thanks to Gabriel and Ken for driving to and from Portland all in one night.
To the Occupy Portlanders: thank you for the warm welcome. You guys were great.
To the many dancers, musicians, and jokers milling around the encampment: thanks for keeping the atmosphere light.
To the proprietor(s) of Lotus bar: thanks for letting me use your bathroom. Repeatedly.
To the "gentleman" who got in a heated argument with me about the movement, then stated that he would kill me were I not in uniform, then called me a dummy (it was written on a sign he was holding that he waved in my face) and forced me to walk away in disgust: I'm sorry your behavior was so unruly and disrespectful that it got you TASERed and arrested. By the way? I win the argument.
To the police officer who thought it was appropriate to take time out from keeping people safe in order to yell at me for a minor uniform infraction: neither your sarcasm nor your penchant for harassment do honor to the uniform you wear. I am confident that I wore my uniform with well-deserved pride, and I hope that someday you will too.
To the frightened hippie on the front line who helped me face down the police, even though tears were streaming down his face: sorry for squeezing your hand so hard. I was scared too.
To the former Army Specialist in the Guy Fawkes mask who asked me to pin new "rank"-- a flower-- to his collar in military fashion: I have never been so pleased to "promote" someone. Hoo-ah!
To the many police officers, male and female, who peered through their riot shields with near terror in their eyes: don't worry. We're far more likely to hug you than hurt you. Also, I was scared too.
To the man with the tattooed face who informed me his dog had been stolen and then gently told me "He was a good dog": I'm sorry, brother. I hope you find your dog.
To the horse who spooked and almost ran, having scented the tension in the air: easy, big guy! Um. I was scared too.
To my voice, which I seem to have misplaced after a night of continued chanting and shouting: I don't blame you for leaving, but please come back. I miss you.
To every brave individual who stared authority in the face and said "I'm not moving": You are some of the bravest people I've ever met, and I am proud to have "held the line" with you.
To every single person who was in downtown Portland and helped ensure that last night's demonstration and police action ended peacefully and without violence: it doesn't matter which side of the line you were holding or if you were police or protester. Your dedication to peace was awe-inspiring.
To Mayor Sam Adams, Mayor McGinn, and any other politician who dares to send our brethren in the 99% in riot gear to remove us from our adopted homes and infringe on our right to peaceably assemble: We cannot be divided and we cannot be silenced. We are not here on your terms, but on ours. We are the 99%, we are too big to fail, and we will not be moved.
I love you all.
PS: Not the guy with the sign that said "Dummy." You actually suck and I don't love you at all.
Because he hasn't taken enough of a beating from the LGBT community over his anti-gay ridiculousness, failed Senator and Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suggested Tuesday that gays were at fault for the destruction of the US economy.
In remarks during Tuesday's Bloomberg debate on the economy, Santorum said the economy suffers when the family is in trouble.
“[T]he biggest problem with poverty in America, and we don't talk about here, because it's an economic discussion – and that is the breakdown of the American family,” said Santorum.
“You want to look at the poverty rate among families that have two – that have a husband and wife working in them? It's 5 percent today. A family that's headed by one person? It's 30 percent today. We need to do something, we need to talk about economics. The home – the word 'home' in Greek is the basis of the word 'economy.' It is the foundation of our country. We need to have a policy that supports families, that encourages marriage.”
In the spin room after the debate, Santorum told a small scrum of reporters: “As I said, economy … starts at the home, starts with the family, it is the first economy, and if that economy breaks down the overall economy can't succeed.”
I'm headed down to talk with the 99% at Westlake Park in a few. I'm sure they'll be VERY interested to hear that my love of manflesh is what is preventing them from getting a job and having a quality, affordable education.
In the face of the popular uprising known as #OccupyWallStreet, various legislators and political leaders are attempting to either cast their lot with the demonstrators or demonize the movement, with Nancy Pelosi and Eric Cantor notably coming to verbal blows over what the Occupation means for the political landscape in America. Republican candidates for president are no exception, with Newt Gingrich making plain his viewpoint on the matter.
In last night's Republican debate, Newt wasted no time in trashing leftist activists as vandals and then went further, suggesting that Wall Street isn't the problem, but legislators guilty of financial malfeasance. He lays the blame squarely on Fed Chairman Bernanke, former Senator Chris Dodd, and Congressman Barney Frank. Then he went on to suggest that they should be jailed for their actions. Watch:
Now, you wouldn't expect Barney Frank, a firebrand by any definition of the word, to take this lying down, and he didn't. He responds today:
Frank said Gingrich’s anger over his and Dodd’s role in the financial meltdown was absurd given that Republicans were in charge of the House and — excerpt for a brief period — Senate, from 1995 to 2007.He noted that he worked on reform legislation on mortgage in his first year as chair in 2007.
Barney ain't havin' it.
“It’s interesting, the charge is failure to stop Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay from deregulating,” he said. “This notion we caused the problem that started while they were in charge even by Gingrich’s standards is very odd.”
Added Frank: “I wish I knew that he was willing to listen to my advice, I would have given him some: I would have told him not to impeach Clinton, I would have told his successors not to go to war with Iraq, and I would have told DeLay not to go on the dance show.”
Frank went on to speculate as to why Gingrich would make such a ridiculous suggestion:
“He’s been having a bad year, you know — this self-styled intellectual leader of the free world struggling to stay ahead of Michele Bachmann in the polls is unsettling him so he talks even sillier than he sometimes does,” he said.
Republican leadership slowly appears to be realizing that their asses are in hot water, and they're quick to make baseless and outrageous allegations regarding blame in the economic collapse of recent years to punt their culpability. America isn't particularly fooled; the majority of Americans now support tax hikes for the richest 1%, to include 53% of Republican voters.
Gingrich and his cronies have been protecting Wall Street interests for decades, is it any surprise that he desperately wants you to be angry at someone else?
The creator of the hate-y billboard has been receiving "hate mail" from gay and lesbian residents of Toledo and had this to say about the controversy his church has generated:
“I love everyone. There’s nothing on that billboard about hate. ... I’m getting hate mail from lesbian and gay people, but my point is that I love them too much to let someone believe a lie. I love this city too much to let a lie be sown.”
Right. I have a suggestion for the Rev. Tony Scott: if you loved your town, you'd stop using tithe money to advertise oppression for gay people and put it to use-- say, with a homeless shelter. That probably wouldn't gain you parishioners or additional tithing, unfortunately, as your billboard likely will. Nothing says "come to our church!" in Ohio like "We hate gays old-fashioned style!"
One of the powerful and most often repeated memes of the opposition to marriage equality is the idea that gay citizens fighting for their rights are somehow victimizing people who want to oppress LGBTs. NOM has tried to hide their donor list for years while repeating this line, insisting that by exposing who their supporters are they'll be left open to harassment and violence by "homofascists." I'm of the opinion that they simply don't want that sort of transparency because something is fishy in their books, thus inventing this clever myth in order to protect their BS, but it's one the right has latched onto with fervor.
If you have been threatened, harassed, or made to feel afraid because you believe in the great, foundational truth of Genesis –we are born male and female and called to come together in love to give children mothers and fathers—Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance is here to help you: you are not alone.
We want to hear your story, connect you with others who share your deepest beliefs, with legal and other practical help, and with other Americans of good will, who (regardless of their views on marriage) want to put a stop to the shaming and the fearmongering of our fellow citizens.
The goal of the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance is to create a supportive community for those who have been threatened for standing for marriage, to nip the climate of fear being created in the bud, to expose for fair-minded Americans on both sides of the debate the threats being made, to conduct high-quality qualitative and quantitative research documenting the extent of the harm, to develop legislative and community proposal to protect Americans right to engage in the core civil rights: to organize, to vote, to speak, to donate, and to write for marriage.
Isolated and alone, we can be suppressed and intimidated. Together we are too many to be treated as second-class citizens.
This idea that conservative Christians are being treated as second-class citizens is insane. I recommend to anyone that feels like this group speaks to them instead seek out psychiatric care. Delusions of victimization are regularly characterized in paranoid disorders and can be treated.
I am astounded by some people's ability to make the worst decisionspossible.
Mike Harmon, for instance!
The Kentucky House Committee has overwhelmingly approved HB 370, a bill which would prohibit any and all bullying on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or religion. That's great, right?
Not everyone thinks so. Harmon, a religious Republican lawmaker in that state, wants to amend the bill before it is brought to a vote making provisions that allow children to condemn another student's sexual orientation as sinful in order to protect Christian students' right to be true to their religion. In essence, he wants Christian kids to be able to bully, thus invalidating the entire scope of the bill.
Not only would he want to allow continued bullying against gay students, but he also wants an amendment permitting the carrying of concealed firearms on school campuses. What could go wrong?
"Pastor" Mike Stahl from Florida has a great new idea to improve America! With the parlous state of affairs in our country, we clearly need some solutions now! So who does Pastor Mike identify as the greatest threat that we need to target?
Atheists. Uh-huh, that's right. Pastor Mike, who doesn't have a physical church but instead just an online ministry, is taking to the interwebz to advocate releasing personal information about atheists in America in order to boycott their businesses and proselytize to them:
Pastor Mike compares atheists to “convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..” He claims that the purpose of this organization/website called, "The Christian National Registry of Atheists" is to inform the public of known atheists so that they can be proselytize to and their businesses can be boycotted.
How would a Christian proselytize to an atheist if the atheist’s physical address is not included? This author speculates that this distinction was made more for legal reasons than for practical reasons. Should an address be supplied by such a website, the organization might be held responsible for any violence that “good Christians” might perpetrate on atheists.
What's next? Are atheists going to have to walk around wearing armbands with the Flying Spaghetti Monster on them so that they can be easily identified?
Rick Perry has kicked off his campaign with remarks that the Washington Post cleverly referred to as an "ugly start" in reference to Fed chairman Bernanke:
“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”
Um, what does ugly treatment entail, Perry? Uh, are we going to beat him up? Hmmm.
He continues:
“Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion,” Mr. Perry said.
Perry's remarks about the Bush-appointed Chairman are misleading. He not only seems to be implying that America's money troubles are due to too much money being printed (how is that for oversimplification?) but he confuses voters on what treason actually entails. Matt Browner Hamlin at AMERICAblog raises an interesting point: which is more treasonous, doing your job as appointed by the President of the United States, or threatening to secede from the Union?
Perry's comments about the President not loving America, the troops deserving a patriotic veteran Commander in Chief, and Bernanke committing treason they all get at his biggest weakness: his secession comments. Perry is deploying a classic Rovian tactic - go after your opponent where you are weakest.
Video of his secessionist statement:
Do I think that Texas has the legal right to secede? On reviewing info from others, yeah, maybe. Are his statements treasonous? Probably not. Is Hamlin right that Perry is attacking the President and other members of the government on subjects that he himself is weak? Abso-friggin-lutely. You can't threaten to take your State out of the Union and then claim to be a patriot, sir.
Of course, right-wing nutjob Bill O'Reilly has chimed in, playing his usual alarmist bullshit cards by claiming that mandating providing birth control is going worsen the unemployment rate. Just last week he said that women are normally too intoxicated to use birth control, of course, and now he thinks that this new regulation will make it impossible for employers to hire women:
O’REILLY: Now the federal government is ordering the health insurance companies to pay for all breast feeding stuff, all female birth control stuff, all preventative measures for doctors for ladies that go in. What do you think that’s gonna do? That’s going to inhibit hiring even more!
KUCINICH: Frankly, we ought to be very concerned about women’s health care.
O’REILLY: I am concerned, but they’re not going to expand and hire if they have to pay higher health care premiums for workers! Businesses aren’t going to do it…You can’t have both. You can’t have a welfare state and a robust capitalist system.
He effortlessly ignores, of course, that preventative care among women will actually drive overall health care costs down, but then, that wouldn't get him any viewers, now would it?
Evidently this sapphic gal gets called a fudgepacker all the time, and that pisses her off. You want to insult a lesbian for being a lesbian? You probably shouldn't call her a faggot.
Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery submitted statements taken from a study supposedly stating that children do better with heterosexual parents. Unfortunately for Minnery, Al Franken read the study, which actually said that children fare best under two parents regardless of gender.
"I frankly don't really know that we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies these ways."
This story has myself and just about everyone else scratching their head.
It's been federal policy for 30 years to deny men who have sex with men the ability to donate blood unless celibate. While that in and of itself is pretty much bullshit, you wouldn't think the Red Cross's irrational fear of HIV tainted blood (now almost a zero chance with modern testing methods) would affect straight donors.
One man, Aaron Pace, attempted to give blood at a donor center. However, the screener judged him to be a little fey and decided he "appeared homosexual" and could not donate. The thing is, Aaron is straight, no matter how effeminate he may appear.
"'I was humiliated and embarrassed,' said Pace, 22. of Gary [Indiana]. 'It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t. And I’m not even a homosexual.'
"Pace visited Bio-Blood Components Inc. in Gary, which pays for blood and plasma donations, up to $40 a visit. But during the interview screening process, Pace said he was told he could not be a blood donor there because he 'appears to be a homosexual.'
"No one at Bio-Blood returned calls seeking comment, but donation centers like it, and even the American Red Cross, are still citing a nearly 30-year-old federal policy to turn away gay men from donating."
While I'm not going to knock on the homeless, Aaron says it pretty succinctly-- why did he get turned away? Not only is that clearly a breach of the rules, but it enforces negative (and inaccurate) stereotypes. The Food and Drug Administration needs to stop treating gay blood as "icky" and start letting MSM help people in need.
ABC News caught up with Michele Bachmann in Iowa amid revelations that Marcus Bachmann's counseling practice does indeed encourage patients to "pray the gay away." The good folks over at Truth Wins Out actually planted a patient inside the clinic who, within five sessions, was told that it was possible to become heterosexual through prayer.
This claim, of course, is patently false, as confirmed by just about every medical professional in the country. In fact, studies claim that reparative therapy is harmful to those patients and can lead to suicide attempts.
So when ABC News attempted to pin Bachmann down on the issue, she clumsily tried to sidestep the issue by talking about jobs. From ThinkProgress:
"HOST: What is your opinion on reparative therapy and is it something that’s conducted in that center?
"BACHMANN: Well, I’m running for the Presidency of the United States and I’m here to talk about job creation and that we do have a business that deals with job creation. I’m very proud of the business that we created and I’m here today in Indianola, Iowa….
"HOST: But of course the issue today is about this reparative therapy and about what this hidden camera caught and their opinions are going to be aired on tonight’s news. And you don’t want to comment on that and give your side?
"BACHMANN: Well, I’m here to talk about the Presidency of the United States. As I said again, we’re very proud of our business and we’re proud of all job creators in the United States. That’s what people really care about."
You're right, Michele. What people care about is job creation! However, you built your career on something entirely different. Up until this point, since she very first started her career in politics as a State Senator, Bachmann has built the core of her platform on anti-gay policy. Jeremy Hooper from GoodAsYou (the hottest news nerd I know) succinctly and thoroughly put it all together:
Jeremy Hooper (right) with Pam Spaulding. No, really, he's that hot.
Seriously, Bachmann? Now that you've built a career out of anti-LGBT politics and tainted money from the oppression of suffering homosexuals, you think you can just ditch it all and pretend you never said this shit? Uh, uh, honey. That ain't gonna fly, not in this election.
Word of advice: if you're a drunk out-of-town racist, you probably shouldn't pick fights with black men you don't know. Because that black man? Might turn out to be the local Boxing Club Champion.
In Bayview, Idaho (wtf? What bays are there in Idaho to have views of?), this idiot from elsewhere got drunk in a local bar and decided to pick a fight with a local. Darren C. Abbey, pictured below, allegedly told Marlon L. Baker that he would stab him and that blacks weren't welcome in Bayview and then attacked him outside the bar. He got a broken nose for his efforts, and Baker wasn't even injured.
"Not wanting a confrontation, Baker left the bar and walked toward a marina on Lake Pend Oreille about 9 p.m. Sunday to watch an Independence Day 'boat parade' on the waterfront, said Kootenai County Sheriff’s Major Ben Wolfinger. 'He didn’t want trouble, so he walked away,' Wolfinger said.
"But the racist skinhead followed Baker out of the bar, confronting him again with racial slurs before finally pushing him with witnesses watching, the sheriff’s official said.
"Fearing for his own safety at that point, Baker took one punch, striking the skinhead in the face and knocking him to the ground, unconscious, Wolfinger said. There were several witnesses who saw the incident and verified Baker’s version of events, according to reports by deputies."
So basically, at this point, we know that Bachmann is absolutely the dumbest person to run for President ever, right?
If it was in question, this may finally convince you: Bachmann failed Economics 101 during her presidential kick-off tour in an attempt to appeal to gold fans in Rock Hill, SC this past weekend by asserting that if we had stuck to the gold standard, the dollar would have been the same value today as in 1911.
What?
"The shorthand way of describing to you what quantitative easing is is a license to print money without any value behind it…In the last two years of the Obama administration, if you pull a dollar out of your pocket, you have lost 14 percent of the value of that dollar. That means the federal government has stolen that money from you… They’ve been printing essentially valueless money and flooding it into the money supply. I don’t stand for that. A dollar in 2011 should be the same as a dollar in 1911. A dollar should be worth a dollar."
Marie Diamond effortlessly shreds this assertion on ThinkProgress:
"A dollar in 1911 had the same buying power as slightly more than $23 today. Bachmann doesn’t seem to understand that the dollar’s value naturally changes over time and accompanies economic growth — and that’s a good thing. Furthermore, the U.S. experienced inflation even when it was on the gold standard (which ended in 1971). Additionally, gold’s value isn’t fixed and also fluctuates over time — for instance, price of gold is currently at a record high.
"So being on the gold standard and keeping a constant dollar value are inconsistent proposals. To achieve 0 percent inflation — which is itself an absurd idea, even according to Republican economists — a country would need an independent central bank."
If this is the future of the Republican Party, then progressives can pretty much hang up their hats. It's over. She'll win it for us just by fucking up royally.
The Herman Cain campaign appears to be heading the way of Newt's own obstacle-ridden run for president, with two key staffers resigning on Friday just days after two others called it quits.
Cain's regional director and New Hampshire state director were joined by the Iowa organizational director and straw poll manager, with Cain's spokesperson attempting to downplay the organizational director's role in Cain's overall presidential bid strategy.
Tina Goff, the staffer in question, cited a lack of Cain's focus on Iowa as the reason for her departure, as CNN reports:
"Goff told CNN that the conservative businessman 'wasn't willing to make the commitment to Iowa necessary to win the [Ames] straw poll.' That contest is seen as an early test of success in Iowa.
"Goff added that she was concerned by the amount of money and time the Cain campaign was committing to that straw poll. However, she declined to discuss specifics.
"'I didn't want it to go this way,' Goff said. 'I'm very sad about it.'"
Break out the lifeboats, kids, cuz this ship's a-sinkin'! Cain's spokesperson, Communications Director Ellen Carmichael, insistedthat Goff was merely junior level and that her assertions about Cain's activities in her state were entirely untrue. According to her count, the presidential candidate will Iowa 22 times in upcoming weeks and that was more than enough.
Maybe Herman should stick to making pizza. Many of the conservatives I've spoken to don't seem to take him any more seriously than I do; at the GOProud mixer I attended in Minneapolis one busty (and tipsy) self-identified Libertarian declared, "We just have him so we can say we have a black person." Ouch.
